CAF form done-now the wait (support thread)

Why does it take five months to process the applications? I just want to know so we can make plans...

(DD gets extra transition due to SEN. The schools will decide what extra help she'll get at Secondary together).

Hope it works out ok @SweetsAndChocolates - am sure it will all be fine!🤞🤞🤞 Our new council doesn’t request any documents - only council tax number.

Joining in as we finally filled in the CAF today. Am hopeful dd will get first choice grammar school but have put four choices just in case including one with a sibling link so we know we will get something which is good as we live in a bit of a no mans land for secondaries - we moved last year during lock down to have a bigger house and didn’t really research school catchments! 🤞🤞🤞

I think if you don’t get any of your 6 choices, you get allocated a place within the borough wherever they do have space, but you’re welcome to contact schools with places outside the borough if you aren’t happy with the allocation.

We’re in north London too. Choosing schools has been interesting.

Good luck @Mastermixy (and everyone else on the thread!). As I understand it, if a school has places available after offers day and no waiting list, they have to give them to anyone who applies, regardless of which borough they live in. Also, I think that every school you are on a waiting list for is effectively separate, so you could decide to turn down a waiting list place at a particular school without it affecting your position on the waiting list for other schools, regardless of where they were ranked in your original preferences. Happy to be corrected on any of this though!

All 6 of our choices are oversubscribed! But one we would have got into every year bar one year (the bulge year here in north London) so hoping we’ll be ok?! Does anyone know whether you can turn down an offer higher up but still get other waiting list offers? Also if you get none of the 6 and they give you a list of local schools with places, can you go out of borough?

Okay, we’re done! Application submitted, and I can stop obsessing for now which is a big relief. I’ve been able to think and talk about little else since August and have even been dreaming about schools!

We get 6 “choices” here; so I’ve gone for 1 and 2 as “aspirational” (ie: will get on the waiting list and see we how do before September) and 3-6 are previously undersubscribed.

March seems like a lifetime away!

@BettySundaes I think it would be possible to get the information from the school/LEA on the cut off distance/score after offer day, but make sure you put the schools on your CAF form in your genuine order of preference. As long as you include somewhere on your form at least one school you can be pretty sure of getting a place at, there is no risk involved in putting your favourite school first. It's an equal preference system and you don't get priority for putting a school first, or lose priority for putting it further down. Best of luck with your test results

I'm still over in the "other camp" agonising over preferences and waiting some test results. If this is second time around (or more) for anyone here can you tell me what info you get on Offer Day. I understand any schools ranked lower than the one you are offered are marked "declined" is there anyway of finding out if you would have got a place if you had ranked it higher? Just curious.

March does seem so far away.

Weve only listed one school. But its a two minute walk away, and we are Category 2 below LAC/ECHP. And category 9 for all other schools. (We have fixed catchment areas and feeder schools so there's not many surprises around here!)

You mention mulling over the decision for ages, what's made the decision so difficult?
As long as your CAF includes a sure bet local comp that you are in the catchment of then you should be fine.